Claiborne Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, straight from Bastrop County and Alum Creek. Moses Gage came to Texas and first put down roots in Bastrop. Then, in 1837, he bought a hundred acres along Alum Creek from his own father, Reuben.

Now that's a family transaction if there ever was one. Others followed the Gages out that way, and before long a small community took shape. It came to be known as Craft's Prairie, probably for Samuel Craft, one of the early settlers in the area.

Probably. The marker leaves a little room there, and so will I. Meanwhile, a Georgia man named John Black had arrived in Bastrop County in 1836.

Six years later, in 1842, he married Gabriella, daughter of Moses and Elizabeth Gage. John Black and his brother-in-law Ludwell Rector then put together a serious piece of ground, purchasing almost two thousand acres along Alum Creek in 1849, including this very site. That is the kind of land deal that anchors a family to a place for generations.

And then came the first grave. Gabriella Black's brother, Sherly Gage, died on November 19, 1850, and he was laid to rest on a gentle rise on the west bank of Little Alum Creek. That rise became the beginning of something lasting.

Members of the Black, Rector, and Gage families were buried there through the 1860s. And in the southeast corner of the site, approximately thirty enslaved people belonging to those families were also buried. That corner of the ground holds lives that history does not name individually, but the marker does not let them go unmentioned, and neither should we.

As the late 1800s came on, other members of the Craft's Prairie settlement began using the cemetery regularly. Then in 1882, John and Gabriella Black gave the land where the cemetery sits to their daughter, Martha Jane, wife of John Dyer Claiborne. The Claibornes were buried there too, and before Martha Claiborne died in 1936, she made it official, establishing the cemetery at the site and giving it a name: Black-Claiborne-Rector Cemetery.

In 1947, an annual family reunion got started, and the people who gathered formed the Claiborne Cemetery Association, which has overseen the site ever since. That gentle rise on Little Alum Creek, where Sherly Gage was first laid down in 1850, is still in use today, by area residents and by descendants of the Black, Claiborne, and Rector families. Some places just hold on.

What the marker says

UPON ARRIVING IN TEXAS, MOSES GAGE FIRST SETTLED HIS FAMILY IN BASTROP AND THEN BOUGHT 100 ACRES ALONG ALUM CREEK FROM HIS FATHER, REUBEN, IN 1837. OTHERS JOINED THE GAGES AND A SMALL COMMUNITY SOON FORMED. THE SETTLEMENT CAME TO BE KNOWN AS CRAFT'S PRAIRIE, PROBABLY FOR THE FAMILY OF EARLY AREA SETTLER SAMUEL CRAFT. GEORGIA NATIVE JOHN BLACK ARRIVED IN BASTROP COUNTY IN 1836, AND IN 1842 HE MARRIED MOSES AND ELIZABETH GAGE'S DAUGHTER, GABRIELLA. BLACK, ALONG WITH HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW LUDWELL RECTOR, PURCHASED ALMOST 2,000 ACRES ALONG ALUM CREEK, INCLUDING THIS SITE, IN 1849. GABRIELLA BLACK'S BROTHER, SHERLY GAGE, DIED ON NOVEMBER 19, 1850, AND HE WAS LAID TO REST HERE, ON A GENTLE RISE ON THE WEST BANK OF LITTLE ALUM CREEK. A CEMETERY WAS SOON FORMED AS MEMBERS OF THE BLACK, RECTOR AND GAGE FAMILIES WERE BURIED HERE THROUGH THE 1860s. ALSO, APPROXIMATELY THIRTY SLAVES BELONGING TO THE FAMILIES WERE BURIED IN THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE SITE. OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CRAFT'S PRAIRIE SETTLEMENT BEGAN TO USE THE CEMETERY REGULARLY DURING THE LATE 1800s. IN 1882, JOHN AND GABRIELLA BLACK GAVE LAND ON WHICH THE CEMETERY SITS TO THEIR DAUGHTER, MARTHA JANE, WIFE OF JOHN DYER CLAIBORNE. THE CLAIBORNES ARE BURIED IN THE CEMETERY, AND BEFORE MARTHA CLAIBORNE DIED IN 1936, SHE OFFICIALLY ESTABLISHED A CEMETERY AT THIS SITE, WHICH SHE CALLED "BLACK-CLAIBORNE-RECTOR CEMETERY." AN ANNUAL FAMILY REUNION WAS BEGUN IN 1947, AND ATTENDEES FORMED THE CLAIBORNE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION, WHICH OVERSEES THE SITE. THE CEMETERY CONTINUES TO BE USED TODAY BY AREA RESIDENTS AND BY DESCENDANTS OF THE BLACK, CLAIBORNE AND RECTOR FAMILIES.